Naia's POV

The next morning, I woke up to the realization that I was the only person on this bed. Tiredly, I propped myself up on one elbow and looked around the bunk room. I must have slept in pretty late if I was the only one in the bunk room.

Sighing, I got up and dragged my feet through the halls and into the kitchen and common room.

"Good morning sleepyhead," Herrmann greeted me as I walked into the room.

I was only able to give him a nod and a smile before flopping down on the couch.

After I rubbed my eyes sleepily, I finally noticed what was playing on the T.V.

"Nineteen people are dead after a shooting at Millennium Park yesterday with an additional twenty-four injured. With a sudden warm day in March, many gathered at the popular park to enjoy it when someone allegedly opened fire," The news presenter was saying.

They then showed a video that someone had obviously taken while running during the shooting.

The screaming. The gunshots.

I wondered how the person managed to film themselves running away. How did the thought of pulling out their phone to the recording button cross their mind during a time like that?

"The suspect has been found by Chicago PD as is currently in custody," The news reporter went on but before she could keep going, I reached over to the converter and turned the T.V. off.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Gabby asked me, taking a seat next to me.

I continued staring at the now black screen of the television and shrugged.

"I'm not hungry," I replied honestly. My stomach wasn't in any mood for food.

"How about waffles? Or eggs?" Gabby was clearly going to persistent about me eating something, "Or toast? Or do you want something else?"

I smiled up at her, "I'm going to guess you're not going to take no as an answer?"

Gabby nodded, "You got that right."

"Toast then," I replied and started to get up, "I can do it."

Trudging over to the kitchen, I pulled two slices of bread out of the bag and dropped them into the toaster. While they were toasting, I got out the butter and once the slices popped up, I tossed them onto a plate and smeared them with butter.

Grabbing the plate, I went over to the table and took a seat in the first empty chair I saw and sat down. I set down my plate and picked at the crust of the toast for a bit before finally biting off a chunk from the corner.

The butter was slippery on my tongue but the toast was hard and scratchy. I struggled to swallow it but forced it down my throat anyway.

After a while, I managed to get both slices of toast down and I pushed the plate away from me.

"You good?" Stella asked, looking over at me with a concerned face.

I nodded and picked up the plate before heading back to the kitchen and rinsing it off and putting it in the dishwasher. As I went to sit back down on the couch, I saw that Gabby was no longer there. Plopping down, I turned the T.V. back on and quickly changed the channel so that I wouldn't have to listen to the news.

Even though I wasn't a huge fan of watching House Hunters, I remembered vaguely that Sylvie liked watching them or something like that so I left it on. At some point, I got up and wandered back into the bunk room where I found Gabby sitting on her now made bed, on the phone.

"Oh, there she is now!" Gabby said when she noticed me. She waved me over and I walked over, confused.

Gabby then handed me the phone and I took a seat on the bed while Gabby got up, giving me some privacy.

"Hello?" The confusion was evident in my voice.

"Naia!" A voice I knew very well exclaimed from the other end. "Oh my gosh, you're okay!"

I smiled, "Yeah, I'm okay Ellie."

"I only saw it on the news this morning. I was hoping you weren't at Millennium Park but I called anyway and Gabby told me you were, and you're okay?" Ellie gushed out all in one breath.

"I'm okay," I whispered quietly.

"We haven't spoken in so long!" Ellie went on, "So how are things going?"

When was the last time I spoke to Ellie?

It was before the whole kidnapping thing.

Right?

"Pretty good," I replied finally after I realized I hadn't responded yet to her question. "How about you?"

"Good, really good actually," Ellie replied and I could hear the happiness radiating off of her.

I smiled, "That's good!"

Ellie chuckled, "You know, we never got to meet up."

"Yeah, you're right," I laughed lightly, "We should still plan on doing that."

"Have you heard from Shane and Thomas recently?" Ellie asked me.

"No, I haven't," I replied, biting my lip, "Have you?"

Ellie sighed, "No, I hope they're doing well."

"Yeah, so do I," I agreed.

Ellie and I talked for a while longer about a lot of things ranging from school to food to new things we had been able to try. After about half an hour, Ellie told me that she had to go now and we agreed to call more often before saying our good-byes and hanging up.

I found Gabby in the common room eating breakfast at the table and returned her phone.

"She was really worried about you," Gabby told me as I handed her phone back.

I nodded, "I know. After all this time..."

Gabby looked at me curiously, "What do you mean?"

"Ellie was always the one rebelling against all the rules we had but she was also the one always worrying about us," I responded, twiddling my thumbs, "I think it's maybe because she was the oldest, though only by about half a year."

"So things haven't changed?" Gabby had a thoughtful look on her face.

I nodded, "Yeah."

A lot has changed.